Investor flight sees $86.4bn pulled from mutual funds

5 December 2008

Shaken investors pulled $86.4 billion from stock and bond mutual funds last month, fleeing from "all but the safest investments" as the global economy continued its downward spiral, according to reports.

Around $52 billion of the money withdrawn from the mutual funds sector came from stock-based funds. Bond-based funds lost $34.4 billion, Conrad Gann of TrimTabs Investment Research told Bloomberg.

Within stock-based funds, $33.2 billion was taken out of US shares, while $18.8 billion was redeemed from non-US investments.

Mr Gann said that while the amount of money pulled out of funds in November was not as bad as October's outflows of $111 billion, there is "still plenty of fear out there".

"It's more of a continuing drumbeat," he added.

The latest round of withdrawals brings the total amount pulled from mutual funds since September to $270 billion.

But while mutual funds hemorrhage money, Katy Marquardt of US News and World Report recently noted that investors' cash is pouring into exchange traded funds. So far this year, over $100 billion has come into the sector.

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